I remember somebody telling about a similar situation (I think it was
John in one of my Brickline Mags).
anyway, he and a friend were working on a motorcycle and had to
disassemble the engine. the bolts were rusted and they wound up rounding
the heads while trying to remove them. The friend took a socket that was
about the size of the bolt(probably a bit smaller), and put it up on the
head of the bolt. It was too small, and it was part of his plan. The
guy took a very large hammer and struck the socket with enough force to
make the bolt think it was hex again. The author said it would be best
to use higher quality sockets for this, such as Craftsman. They come
with a good warranty too from what I hear.
There are two things that can happen which cause a bolt to get stuck.
1: RUST - I learned a little about rust yesterday while at a friend's
house. I was in the spa, and noticed the railings were made of stainless
steel. There wasn't any rust on the rails below the surface of the
water, but just above the surface you can see rust. This told me that
stainless steel, or at least certain types, do rust. I also learned that
rust involves a third ingredient - air. Water coming into contact with
steel should not normally cause rust to start forming until the wet
surface makes contact with air. once this happens, the chemical reaction
we call rust takes place.
2: SEIZURE -No, this has nothing to do with epiliepsy =p
Seizure is simply another chemical reaction car owners must pay special
attention to, for like rust, it can eaisly be prevented. Seizure is
another chemical reaction caused by two different metals making contact
with each other for an extended period of time. This chemical reaction
actually bonds the two metals together as if they had been welded. This
can cause serious trouble. My 1986 Dodge has a 4 cyl. Mitsubishi motor
connected to a turbocharger. We had put only 23,000 miles on the car
since our $1800 investment for an engine rebuild with a new head. We had
to replace the thermostat...no problem, right? Wrong! The cars design
places the thermostat in a "well" that is part of the intake manifold.
There are two bolts that need to be removed so you can lift the "dome"
that covers the "well". It turns out somebody had put stainless steel
bolts on there. The aluminum intake manifold and the stainless steel
bolts had welded themselves together by means of the chemical process
known as seizure. I thought we would have to have the engine pulled,
take off the head, and replace the manifold to solve the problem.
Fortunately, my dad had a better idea. He successfully drilled out the
bolts, tapped new threads, and finished replacing the thermostat. If you
are replacing a bolt or a screw and is not the same type of metal as the
part with the threads, or you're not sure, you need to buy a thing called
"anti-seize compound". This will prevent the chemical reaction from
taking place.
Good Luck = - )
Riley Marquis III
VIN 1758
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